Three African referees to officiate at 2014 World Cup, no Ghanaian included

Ivorian match official Doue Noumandiez Desire, who refereed Ghana’s second-leg World Cup clash against Egypt in Cairo in November, is among three African referees to officiate at the tournament in Brazil in June but no Ghanaian official was named.

While the various Ghana national teams continue to consistently qualify for major tournaments, the country’s referees are standing in the gap.

Gassama Bakary Papa of Gambia and referee of the year Haimoudi Djamel of Algeria were also selected as part of referees to officiate at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in June.

25 referees with eight support duos representing 43 countries have been selected by the FIFA Referees Committee and Africa will be represented by three trios and two support duos.

Referees were picked “on their personality and their quality in football understanding by being able to read the game and the teams’ tactical approaches towards each game,” FIFA said.

Europe provides nine of the 25 officiating teams, South America has five and Asia four.

North and Central American and the Caribbean has three along with Africa, and Oceania has one.

FIFA said an additional eight referees and eight assistants will go to Brazil as reserves.

A referee and his assistants can be dropped if they fail a fitness test before the tournament starts June 12.